PSS federal programs officer Tim Thornburgh yesterday said there was never any order to suspend or cancel the summer reading program in any school.
He said the summer reading classes are a federally funded program PSS will be implementing for the first time.
“This is important to help fill in the learning gap for the students during the 10-week summer period,” Thornburgh said.
The summer reading programs for the elementary schools will run four hours a day, four days a week until Aug. 13.
It is up to the schools to decide which grade levels will participate in the summer reading classes, Thornburgh said.
Some teachers at Kagman Elementary School said they received notice that only the kindergarten and first grade classes are allowed to have a summer reading program.
One teacher said she was very disappointed when she heard that the program for the upper grades was canceled.
“Our school is at the very bottom of the performance level reports and we are doing all we can to lift us out of that ranking but if we get no support from PSS, it would be so hard for us,” she said.
